Whole Life Gardening

Archive for January, 2013

A Gardening Life – January 27 My friend John Sullivan made this video for Plant Something Massachusetts. Set to a very hummable song written by Andy Rapo, the purpose of the project is to promote plants and gardening. A noble goal, wouldn’t you agree? When John recently posted a link to the video in a [...]

A Gardening Life – January 23 Ok, I realize that as a homegrown vegetable leeks don’t have the same appeal as, say, tomatoes. Their fragrance isn’t as evocative of summer as basil is, and they don’t have quite the broad pick-me-at-five-and-sit-down-to-dinner-at-six as summer squash or green beans. But after harvesting a large crop in January, [...]

A Gardening Life – January 20th It came to my attention today that the company that makes the Monopoly game wants to retire one of the classic playing pieces in order to add a new one. They’ve asked people to go on their Facebook page and vote for which classic icon must be saved. The [...]

A Gardening Life – January 17 Whether you leave your shrubs to fend for themselves or protect them from heavy snow and ice with ties, burlap, wire cages or other support, there will be times when winter weighs the branches down. If you live in an area that gets snow and ice, it’s unavoidable. It’s [...]

A Gardening Life – January 14 “There are spots on my leaves,” my clients say. “I don’t want it to spread…is there something I can spray?” This is a common conversation I have with many consultation customers, email enquirers and radio listeners. They might be calling about spots on their vegetables, perennials, annuals or shrubs. [...]

Here’s the thing: It soon will be spring. There’ll be so much to do You’ll won’t try something new. But February 8, 7 & 6 You can learn some new tricks to jumpstart your biz, and your thinking, that is. There’s a full day of detail for those who sell retail. Or learn shrubs, trees, [...]

A Gardening Life – January 10 Some years ago when Calibrachoa (aka “million bells”) annuals were new to the market I tried some in the garden and containers. I don’t remember the particular varieties that I planted that year, but I do recall that they were a disappointment. Once it got hot they stopped flowering. [...]

A Gardening Life – January 9 I got an email yesterday from someone who wants plants that attract hummingbirds to his garden. He specifically asked for perennials, “something easy to grow,” that would bloom the first year. In my reply I went over the possibilities and tried to steer him to a few perennials and [...]

A Gardening Life – January 8 Should gardeners make New Year’s resolutions specifically aimed at the landscape? Or are the usual losing weight, getting more exercise and spending less time on Facebook enough to handle? Jim Long, a fellow garden writer in Missouri, published a post on gardener’s resolutions that prompted me to think about [...]

A Gardening Life – January 5 This afternoon we put on hats and coats and went up to the shed to pick lettuce for dinner. Our shed has windows and plexi-panels on the southern side and roof. A wall of clay pots on the north side act as heat sinks and that half of the [...]